Children are often reluctant to eat or drink healthy portions during meal time. They become distracted or bored with sitting at the table which frustrates parents and caregivers. It is known that children respond well to positive reinforcement, enjoy playing games, and respond well to interactive electronic devices, particularly when they have some element of direct control. The present invention provides parents with a game apparatus that will take the frustration out of meal time, give children a feeling of control and provides a fun electronic game that will keep them stimulated and engaged in consuming food.
A number of devices have been contemplated to encourage children to eat but most are associated with containers for food. A child's dish or bowl adapted to retain a toy or other prize which may be received by the child only when he has eaten substantially all of the food in the dish is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,561,594, to Pokras. U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,329 to Roberts, describes a combination of a food dish and an electronic sound unit with latching means for securing the sound unit to the dish, and a feeding utensil for use with the food dish, and a proximate switch means that enables the sound unit when the utensil is brought into proximity to the proximate switch. Another child's feeding bowl is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,352,258 to Fitzgerald wherein the bowl includes separate food compartments and a chance control means for identifying a compartment that can be eaten out of. Another feeding bowl accessory device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,743,071 to Tronca, wherein a rim member designed to be attached to a food container, has a head member that is positioned over the container allowing children to put food through the head member. These devices may encourage children to eat with entertaining stimulus, but may also be distracting since they are in control by the child. In addition, these devices would require cleaning after every meal, and may be subject to breaking or damage from the handling required to clean it after every use.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an interactive and motivational eating game apparatus and game for encouraging children to eat, without the drawbacks of direct food contact, complicated game play, and limited ability of parent or caregiver to direct the game outcome.